Proud Graeme Shinnie reckons his Aberdeen teammates deserve enormous credit for using their shame as a launchpad to turn Aberdeen back into a European name.
The Pittodrie campaign has gone from the lowest of the low to them finishing best of the rest and European qualification - that could guarantee group stage football until Christmas, if Celtic win the Scottish Cup. It comes just four months after the worst spell in the club’s history, where they embarrassingly crashed in the Scottish Cup to Darvel and were smashed by five and six by Hearts and Hibs, respectively.
It saw Jim Goodwin sacked and it left Shinnie embarrassed when the axe fell on his former manager. Shinnie admitted third wasn’t even on the agenda, at that point, it was more about arresting the slump - which new boss Robson has done in some style. He said: “When a manager loses his job you always feel ashamed really. We probably had one of the worst weeks in the club’s history and that is never easy to get away from.
“The feeling was to try to turn that around. We knew we were a better squad than what we were giving. It was about trying to turn that around to win games, win as many as we could and build up momentum.
"Once you come to the crunch game, where you know where you are going to be and fighting for, then the momentum was good and we won seven games in a row, which was remarkable in this league. That put us in the position to go on and finish third with a game to spare, which is a great achievement.”
Shinnie returned from his controversial suspension and netted an inspirational brace in Aberdeen’s 3-0 win over St Mirren that clinched third. The sense of injustice over his ban being extended to four games fired him up to make an instant impact on his return.
He admitted: “There was a feeling of injustice but that frustration came out and I am happy to score two goals. It was four weeks building up. There was frustration, watching the team and not being able to help.
“It has been tough but I knew coming into this game what it meant. We were hoping other results would go our way but we were also focusing on our own game.
“I wanted to try and help the team, which is something I haven’t been able to do in the last four games. I was desperate to push them on and thankfully I was able to do that and happy days.
“Everything about Wednesday and the frustration of not being able to play for four weeks and the magnitude of the game, getting third and back into Europe has been massive for the club.
“It is the kind of night you would expect at a club like Aberdeen and nights you want. You enjoy them every time.”
Shinnie acknowledged the biggest annoyance was not being able to aid his team when Aberdeen needed him most. The former Scotland cap insisted: “It was longer than what I would have off in the summer. Some of the games were good to watch. Rangers, especially, when you are winning but the Hibs one was tough to watch.
“When things are going right and the team isn’t playing as well as we know they can and I am watching on and can’t help them that is frustrating.
“The lads have done well and it has been a remarkable turnaround from where we were in January. I am just delighted for everybody, the staff players and everybody at the club.”
Shinnie is a former Aberdeen teammate of Robson. He never envisaged he would become his manager but he reckons Robson has more than proved he is up to the job with his first season achievements.
He said: “Did I ever envisage Baz being my manager? Probably not. What I have seen with the youth team and the philosophy he has created for the club with the youth, I was confident he could then bring that through to the first-team.
“You can tell with the way he is trying to play with the transitions and the excitement it brings and the forward runs, it gets the crowd on their feet and gets the place going.
“We showed that against St Mirren our transitions were good and we broke with pace. In that aspect, I knew he could do it. The turnaround has been amazing. Did I think it would go as well as that? Maybe not but it is testament to the manager and staff.”
Aberdeen now have to wait for the outcome of the Scottish Cup final. It will be a hard one for the former Inverness Caley Thistle cup-winning captain, knowing a Celtic win would see the Dons hit the jackpot of group stage football.
“I will be in Spain and hopefully I will get it,” Shinnie claimed. “It is going to be a mad one with the European places and it changes if Inverness win.
“We want to be in the group stages but it is one of those where it is my old club and I won the Scottish Cup with them and I know what it brings. It will be a win-win either way, isn’t it?”
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